Help low ABV every batch

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chiefairwrench

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I am having trouble with low ABV in my Cream Ale, APA and Wiet all size batches and both DME and all grain we make 5 gal and 3 gal batches using beer smith 2 as our guide. White lab and SAF-05 dry yeast used. An example was started with 1.042 on my cream ale 3 gal batch and ended at 1.017 only approximately 3.3 abv was looking for somewhere in 4.0s. This was a DME 2 row with Rice.
 
You're at the absolute lowest OG and way above FG according to style. So, there are a number of things to try to get closer to the guidelines for a cream ale.

First, you're going to need more fermentables. A set of questions here: why are you using rice instead of (the more traditional) flaked maize/corn? How are you treating your rice? Are you using minute rice? If not, are you performing a cereal mash or cooking it to gruel first? We'll need to see a recipe and process here for any help.

You will probably be looking at first getting your FG up to something closer to 1.055 (commercial examples are 50-53). Then, we'll need to figure out why you aren't getting proper attenuation. (Again, your rice process may figure in here). What yeast are you using? In what amount? If liquid, are you making a starter? What temperatures are you fermenting at? How long are you fermenting? How are you determining when you have reached FG (by time or by hydrometer?)?

Try recreating the ever-popular BierMuncher recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/ Just scale it down to 5 or 3 G (pay careful attention to your IBUs).

ETA: The above recipe is still a low OG one, but you'll see the FG is much, much lower than yours. You can scale it down as is, or fudge the grain bill a little to get a higher OG, that's up to you.
 
Thanks maybe we are trying to be within too much per beer smith from the get go and too stingy with the grain bill and DME. I will be more liberal with the recipe and add to get to the proper OG. And we will be making starters maybe not enough yeast. Will brew a new batch (small) of cream ale and see if that was the ticket.
 
Thanks maybe we are trying to be within too much per beer smith from the get go and too stingy with the grain bill and DME. I will be more liberal with the recipe and add to get to the proper OG. And we will be making starters maybe not enough yeast. Will brew a new batch (small) of cream ale and see if that was the ticket.

To be clear, upping the OG will get you better in to the style parameters, but you definitely need to look at your fermentation techniques and figure out why you're not getting enough attenuation out of your yeast. If all you do is up the grain bill, but still hit the same attenuation, you'll be no closer to style.

Possible problems:
Pre-fermentation: not converting the rice starches resulting in a large amount of non-fermentables (for both all grain and extract), mashing too high (for all grain), not mashing long enough for full conversion (either method)
Yeast: Under pitching yeast, fermenting too cold, fermenting too warm (less likely), incomplete fermentation (bottling before it's done), or using the wrong strain of yeast for the style.

Since the problem is with more than just the cream ale, it would really help us troubleshoot if you let us in on more of your process. How are you fermenting in general? What is your typical brewday? How do you measure your gravities? Etc.
 
Another factor that can lead to poor attenuation is poor aeration. Make sure you give your yeast enough O2 to multiply at the start and they will work harder for you.

Also, what temp are you fermenting at? I like to start my US-05 at 60F ambient and let the yeast heat it up from there. When the yeast start slowing down (about 10 days), I gradually raise the temp to 68F and after 2 weeks I raise it to 75F for one day, then let it cool back to 68F-70F until I bottle.
 
If you're using US-05 and you properly rehydrate it, it should start and attenuate fine at 65*F, even if you fail to aerate well.

Do not make a starter when using dry yeast.

How long did you ferment?
 
Other than it taste like rice...nothing.
I love Jasmine rice in a stir fry...not in my beer, if I wanted rice in beer I would buy a Budweiser. :p

Then you shouldn't ever try to make a light lager or a cream ale. Adjuncts are a part of the grainbill, due to the light and crisp finish.

But you can't taste "rice" in the beer. It's used as a simple sugar that is very fermentable and the flavor impact is nil, but it leaves a light body and dry finish.
 
Typical brew day is normally with a 10 gal pots with ten gal cooler for mash tun. temperature was a problem but we have read enough threads and books we figure that out. It is funny we did not have this problem when we did kits. But when we stared developing our own recipes and doing all grain is when we started having problems. We did not use starters because when we were doing kits it never was a problem. Since we started having problems we bought a stir plate and DME to start making starters. After making cream ale for a party with rice and corn 2 batches all grain I was hitting the numbers but when the final gravity always too high and the ABV was very low 3.8 corn to 3.3 rice. Also when we did our APA and wiet same thing. Temps are fermentation were the same as we used in the kits. The Cream ale Fermentation was 68 for 2 1/2 week and I would say 3 days of cold crashing if that mostly it was steady. Mashing was between 150 and 149 90 minutes. After this I decided to do a DME recipe to see what the heck was going on same results and i used white lab american ale . Our beers are very tastey full of flavor and got high praise but the low alcohol bothers me. I read that Ph could screw things up I checked we been around 5 to 5.2. I do believes we are too low of fermentable sugars like you suggested.
 
Oh forgot using a fractometer with both scales I question that last batch so I used a triple scale hydrometer it matched perfectly.
 
Have you checked the thermometer to make sure it is accurate? If you are getting good OG but not good attenuation, it could be that you are mashing warmer than you think. That will lead to a lot of unfermentable sugars in the wort.
 
Just FYI, I bought a digital thermometer and it was way off within a week (it was obvious because it was reading 95 at room temp). So, yours might be off.
 
OK we figure it out actually we were getting the appropriate ABV we were incorrectly calculating the Specific gravity (final) we were using the refractometer with out doing the proper calculations once you ferment the beer a dual scale refractometer is not accurate you must adjust by using brix %. I must give credit to my wife for pointing me in the right way and even showed me the tool on our own beersmith in tools. Thanks I hope this help. Here is a calculator if you don't have beersmith. http://onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml
 
OK we figure it out actually we were getting the appropriate ABV we were incorrectly calculating the Specific gravity (final) we were using the refractometer with out doing the proper calculations once you ferment the beer a dual scale refractometer is not accurate you must adjust by using brix %. I must give credit to my wife for pointing me in the right way and even showed me the tool on our own beersmith in tools. Thanks I hope this help. Here is a calculator if you don't have beersmith. http://onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml

Even so, those conversions have never been accurate for me.

I've heard that Sean Terrell's is the most accurate for most brewers, but even that one has been off for me by at least .005 when correcting the FG.

I use a refractometer pre fermentation, and a hydrometer post-fermentation, and that works out perfectly.
 

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